Domestic violence linked to animal abuse: study

Mass murderer Martin Bryant is just one of many well-documented cases of a violent history beginning with animal cruelty, and now a Monash University study has established a link between animal abuse and domestic violence.

Transcript

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KERRY O'BRIEN: The connection between animal abuse and violence against humans is well documented. Melbourne's serial killer Paul Denyer and mass murderer Martin Bryant are amongst those whose history began with the abuse of animals. Now, a university study has established a connection between domestic violence and animal abuse. The Monash University study showed just over half of family violence victims reported the perpetrator had also abused the family pets, and many women said they had delayed leaving a violent relationship out of concern for their pet's welfare. Lisa Whitehead reports.

RIC HOLLAND, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LORT SMITH ANIMAL HOSPITAL: We had a dog that had clearly been punched in the face with severe facial injuries and broken limbs. Probably it had been struck with a cricket bat or a baseball bat.

DR SASHA HERBERT, LORT SMITH ANIMAL HOSPITAL: The male owner said that the dog had run through a plate glass window to get to him. I suspect the dog had been thrown through the plate glass window rather than having run through it itself, or it else it was so frightened that it was running from something rather than to something.

JUDY JOHNSON, EASTERN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICE: The threats to the pets are used as a controlling mechanism by a perpetrator to say, "Look, remain with me. If you leave I will do such and such. I will either shoot the dog, I'll strangle a cat, I'll skin the guinea pigs, and when I find you and the children eventually, I'll do the same to you".

LISA WHITEHEAD: Those threats against the family pets may never be carried out, but they're powerful coercive tool used to trap women and children in the web of domestic violence.

DR NICOLA TAYLOR, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY: They can be used to keep them silent, particularly in the case of children where child abuse is concerned. They can also be used to make the victims stay in the relationship, or to make them behave in ways that they wouldn't normally behave.

LISA WHITEHEAD: The stories workers in the field of domestic violence have been hearing for years are now being reaffirmed by the findings of the first Australian study examining the link between pet abuse and domestic violence.

DR SASHA HERBERT: And so have there ever been any injuries to your cat?

LISA WHITEHEAD: In the survey by Monash University and Melbourne's Eastern Domestic Violence Service, more than half of the victims of family violence said their animals had been abused. The report mirrors the findings of research overseas where pet abuse is now seen as an indicator of other violent behaviour.

DR NICOLA TAYLOR: In the States they call it a "red flag" and what this essentially means is that if we know that there is animal abuse going on, then we should be looking more deeply for signs of child abuse and spousal abuse and other dysfunctional behaviour in that family.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Disturbingly, the Monash University study also found a third of the women living in crisis accommodation delayed leaving the family home out of concern for their pet's welfare.

JUDY JOHNSON: There's long stories of maybe the crisis line spending an hour on the phone to a woman talking to her about the possibility of finding a refuge, the difficulty of finding the refuge, and then at the very end the woman will say "And what about my horse?" And then you're really back to square one because she won't leave without the horse or the cat.

DR NICOLA TAYLOR: We need to also realise that the children very often have an attachment to these pets which can preclude them leaving.

TILLY: I had a family of dogs and they're just as important to me as my two children. I didn't want to leave them and find that he had hurt them or victimised them for me leaving.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Tilly was caught in a violent relationship for two and a half years. Desperate to get out, she tried in vain to find a temporary home for her dogs.

TILLY: I rang the RSPCA, I rang a lot of different agencies that ... any agency that I could think of and there just was nothing out there. I couldn't actually afford to take my dogs to a private kennel.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Finally, Tilly says she had no choice but to have one of her dogs put down.

TILLY: I sat in the car and cried for a quarter of an hour, shaking, and it was not something I had ever planned to do, and it's certainly something that I never wish to ever have to do again.

LISA WHITEHEAD: It's a grim option, but most domestic violence refuges can't accommodate pets, and few animal shelters offer respite care for more than a week or two, leaving women and children little choice but to leave their pets behind. That's the dilemma Naomi faced when escaping to a refuge with her children.

NAOMI: It was one of the first things that was actually brought up "What is he going to do to the animals?" They were really scared and really distressed about leaving them behind. They were their comfort. They were their safety and security.

LISA WHITEHEAD: But Animal Aid's new Pets in Peril program came to Naomi's rescue.

CLIENT: Good, good. I believe you have Gidget for me?

ASSISTANT: That's right, yes.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Working closely with Melbourne's Eastern Domestic Violence Service and a network of suburban vet clinics, Animal Aid finds safe homes for pets for a month or more. Coordinator, Debra Boland, says the importance of the program was brought home to her by one 12 year old girl.

DEBRA BOLAND, PETS IN PERIL: She used to ring on a regular basis just to ... not to find out if they were OK, or not to find out when they could come home, but if they were still alive.

DR NICOLA TAYLOR: We know essentially that children who do witness domestic violence and who presumably also witness this kind of abuse to pets, will be in a much higher risk category for developing anti social behaviour of some kind or another.

LISA WHITEHEAD: Animal Aid is just one small service helping to break that cycle of abuse, but recognition of the problem is slowly growing. The Queensland RSPCA runs a state-wide animal foster program for pets in crisis and other state RSPCAs have dedicated services in some areas. Now Melbourne's Lort Smith Animal Hospital wants to get on board, working with domestic violence and child abuse agencies across Victoria. It plans to set up a 24 hour transport and boarding service for pets at risk.

RIC HOLLAND: That then gives a very clear access to the women in this situation to escape from a violent partner, be very confident that the pets are being cared for and once her life has got back on track, to actually reclaim the pets and bring them back into her and her children's lives.

NAOMI: They were relieved, unbelievably relieved. We could actually start looking at books again, looking at books of different animals without the tears coming. They're very excited about getting them back.

DEBRA BOLAND: We're giving them an option when prior to that, they had none.